BrightScope Releases Annual Top 30 401k Plans

SAN DIEGO, CA, February 21, 2017 -- BrightScope (a Strategic Insight business), the leading provider of independent financial information and investment research to the USA retirement industry, is proud to announce the eighth BrightScope year-end ranking of the Top 30 401k Plans List, recognizing companies with the best 401k plans containing more than $1 billion in assets.

"This is our eighth year compiling the year-end Top 30 ratings list, and yet again we see companies offering higher quality plans," said Brooks Herman, Head of Data & Research at BrightScope. "We have witnessed average plan ratings improve each year in the Top 30 List and this year is no different. This demonstrates that America's employees and employers recognize how critical a high-quality 401k plan is to maintaining an acceptable standard of living in retirement."

Key statistics of BrightScope's Top 30 List:

Target-Date funds represent over 10% of assets in the Top 30 List.

Index funds push up: they represent almost 41% of assets in the list, a 6% rise since last year.

Average participation rate in a Top 30 plan was over 96%.

Target-Date funds account for over 10% of assets.

Average salary deferral over $14,500 per participant in a Top 30 plan.

Average company generosity tops $13,000 per participant in the list.

Delta Pilots Plan takes the #1 Spot with a 92.6 rating. Total plan cost of under 25 bps, company generosity and salary deferrals accelerated this plan to the List's top position.

Bayer Corporation moved up 12 places with more than $3,700 in company generosity per participant and more than $3,000 in salary deferrals per participant.

The NFL Player Annuity Program joined the Top 30 List, as it becomes a member of the NFL Player Second Career Savings Plan. Both plans are affiliated with the National Football League Players Association and the National Football League Management Council.

Federal National Mortgage Association Retirement Savings Plan for Employees jumps from #29 to #21 in this year's List as costs drift down while salary deferrals and company generosity increase from last year.

BrightScope obtains an increasing amount of its data directly from plan sponsors and recordkeepers, and augments these primary sources with data from publicly available sources such as the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission. By analyzing and interpreting this data, BrightScope provides unprecedented transparency into the 401k industry.

The BrightScope Rating was developed by BrightScope, Inc. with the help of leading academics and independent 401k fiduciaries. By analyzing more than 200 individual data points, the BrightScope Rating algorithm calculates a single numerical value for each 401k plan. The data points examined cover broad categories such as total plan cost, company generosity and investment menu quality.

BrightScope has rated nearly 50,000 401k and 403(b) plans, spanning more than 57 million workers and over $3 trillion in assets. Industry adoption of the BrightScope Rating will lead to more cost-effective plans, increased participation rates, higher employee satisfaction and better outcomes for the 60 million employees who depend on their 401k plan for retirement.

About BrightScope & Strategic Insight

Strategic Insight (SI) provides critical and proprietary data, business intelligence, research and marketing services to the global asset management community.

SI delivers full service solutions to the asset management sector worldwide, including investment flow data, advisor sales analysis, in-depth research, analytics, editorial content and events for investment managers, asset owners and custodians, plus Transaction Cost Measurement of over 500 million trades per month. Strategic Insight clients include over 1000 of the most prominent names in the asset management industry, including 83 of the world's 100 largest fund managers.

Strategic Insight delivers its products and services through four distinct divisions: SI Data, SI Research, SI Intelligence and SI Interactive. Its portfolio of leading editorial titles includes the well-recognized brands PLANSPONSOR, PLANADVISER, Chief Investment Officer, Global Custodian, and The Trade. The company's headquarters are in New York with offices in Boston, Denver, San Diego, San Francisco, Stamford CT; London; Munich; Melbourne; Toronto and Vancouver. Strategic Insight is backed by Genstar Capital.

BrightScope is a Strategic Insight business, providing data and analytics through the SI Data division. BrightScope drives the growth of data-driven decision-making at leading financial services firms. BrightScope builds best-in-class software solutions facilitating more effective sales and retention strategies for top financial institutions. BrightScope works with eight of the top 10 asset managers by U.S. open-end assets, and eight of the top 10 defined contribution plan recordkeepers. BrightScope maintains a database with information on more than 60,000 defined contribution plans, largely gathered from Department of Labor Form 5500 audited filings.

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